Electric street-vehicle



Aug. 9, 1932. L. E. w. MONTROSE-OSTER 19571074 ELECTRIC STREET VEHICLE Filed May 5, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1932- 1.. E. w. MONTROSE-OSTER 1,371,074

ELECTRIC STREET- VEHICLE Filed May 5. 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ill Patented Aug. 9, 1932 Lo IsnUennn-W nonr nonraosn-osrnn, or canteens, CZEGI-IOSEOVAKIA', AssrGNoB ro snnnnrrrsonn men-mannaessnrtsonanr, 1 or. GERMANY,"fA COItPQRAE TION or enRMAnY ELECTRIC eraser-VEHI LE;

Applibation 'fi1ed May 5', 19S0 ,=Serial No. 449,727, and in Germany May 7,1929;

This invention, relates toi electrically, operated street-.vehicles or streetcars for passen gerl service and more particularly to vehicles orrars of theatorementioned kindhin which the benches or seats may be arranged either in longitudinal or. in transverse direction v thevehicle-or car. Y

to provide-an electrically operated stre'et-ve hiele orstreetmarwith a floor whichis posis tioned relatively low,that is} very close to the-surface of the street, at the sametizne permitting the use of wheels fof normal or essentlally normal diameten.

According to my nvention the bottom or floor ofthe carisnositioned horizontall at L i i o the heightotone steppabovethe surface of the street and extends throughout the car. In my new electric street-vehicle orstreetcar, therefore, the flooris tully free of any steps, archedor inclined surfaces, especially atboth ends of the car. A Byfreason of this a street-vehicle constructed according to my invention n1ay,therefore, be properly desig; nated flow atloor carfwith horizontal bottomthroughont? or-simgly as low .floor earl.

I ,amcaware of the fact that street-cars have been constructed with .y lowfloor provided centrally, along thecar and ascending at both ends: thereof. By my; invention, now-Pin contra-distinction, 1 to this constructione it will be possible. to render available the entire bottom or floor surface of a low ,fioorcarfor theseats for passengerseraice and to retain highest-possible resiliency of the spring sus: pensionwhich forpurposes of passengerserv ice is extremely desirablea My invention consists inthef first place therein, that the driv ng. motor for thestreetvehicleorstreet-car; as well as the transmis sion gear, .the differential; gear, the members fornnngpart of the Gardan dIlVG, theaxles of'thewheels and their bearings and evens 7 v y I inthe appended c laimss My invention has .primarily for its objectof the benches, orarows 0t benches. .Fiirther details of the car constr uction which forms part ofimy; present invention. will be apparent from the'drawingsand the}hereih-v below specification, while; the noyel ifeatnres and combinations atp nts l bepoi ted out Inthe drawings; haye represented two, main forms of construction; of new electrically; Operated jlow floor street-vehicle ior tail showing the g use of 1 wheels. mounted on a'lbent or crankedlax le,Fig lsra diagram showing the arrangement otthe dmvmg ele-i ments of my new car, Fig 5 a somewhatidia grammatical longitudinalyiew of my new car, Fig. 6 a side-view ota driving geanof modified construction,- some details K thereof beingi shown :broken away, Fig. [7 a view, as seen: from the end ofthe canof the ClIlV? ing' gearcwith omissionof several-details, and i Fig. 8 a toprview of the driving gear shown inFig.l. i or r Referringa-now-imore particularly to the drawings, accordingto, Figs, .1 and, 2 the carbody a is provided with abottom 6 adapted to serve as the floor,.of the ,carandwith a pair of wheels 0 resting on the surfaced of the street, [A .ro'w-ofseats or benches e and (21, are provided .inthe ordinary manner, for instance,. -w ith common baoksir ior adjacent seats. Acparti'culargfeature, of my invention con; sists therein, that the driving mot'or .f havinganhorizontal axle together with its transmission gear g and; the diiferential gearLaS' well as the first member ot the Cardan drive 11,:2' are mountedwithinthe free space intermediate the-bQttOmDr floor of thecar and the-benchor surface of a seat, while the wheels V 0, together with their fixedaxles 0 .thebear ingsjc and the transmission gears Z are, posi': tioned for the greater part, below the-seats of another; of th'e' row- ,otg benches, .preterably below the bench which follows the ,former.

kind, however, being connected with grave constructional disadvantages.

WVhen constructing the new low floor street- 7 vehicle or street-car-a'ccording to my present invention it will be preferable to equip thedifferential gearwith a hollow shaft, to incline downward thecentral part of the Cardan shaft and to use bent or cranked axles for the wheels. .As. shown in Fig. 3-the cranked part 0' of the axle in this case is practically positioned within-the cavity 0,

provided within the rim of the wheels 0. V

There will be no difficulty whatever in-selecting a proper type of electric motor which is suitable'for the low floor street-vehicle or street-car constructed according to the afore-' mentioned principles of my invention. It may benoted that the wheels or-wheel trucks need not be constructed and arranged exactly as'shown in the drawings, as the experiments which have so far been carried out have proven the fact that it willbe possible to use a power transmission mechanism comprising an essentially smaller number of gears, than shown in the drawings. It is likewise not necessary to mount the motor in a one-sided manner with respect tothe car, that is on the one end of the latter and to drive from this end of the car the Cardan shafts i and i ,.the latter by the aid of an intermediate shaft, as shown in the drawings, it being assumed in'this case that tlie' same arrangement of motor'and'power transmission mechanism in the form of'an exact' image of the motor and power transmission mechanism shown maybe used at the other end of' the car. On the other hand it will alsobe possible to drive at atime two wheels, positioned one in the rear of the other, from" a single motor. Likewise, it will not be necessary to use bent or cranked axles proper for the wheels, since also axle-stumps may be used withw advantage'in case 'a proper gauge (for instance standard gauge) is chosen. L

According to my invention it willbe pos-' V sible to construct a street-car which in every respect fulfills all ,modern requirements of mechanical as well as of electrical nature and which, in addition, will offer the very de sirable convenience that the bottom or floor will extend in horizontal direction throughout the length of the carfandat a height of a single step. above the surface of the street as shown, for instance, in Fig. 5.

i While the just-described form", of construction ofmy new low floor car comprises two axles either adjacent or one in therear of the other and driven from a single motor, accordingto afurther feature of my invention itwill be possible to use four motors with horizontal axles, each jbeingslightly inclined and-adapted to drive one of the four running wheels of the car by intermediary of a Cardan drive or un versal joint. Figs. 6, 7

' ticularly, the motor f, eventually together with its transmission-gear g, is mounted on thebottom or floor of the car underneath a seat or bench 6. Rails d may be used and the wheels 0 in this case are mounted upon axlestumps '0 The axle frame is designated with Z, the gear-box with m, while n and m are Cardan or universal joii'its and 0 and p bearingsfor the driving axle.

From the several figuresof the horizontally or nearly horizontally positioned axles" are mounted underneaththe seats or benches, said four motors serving to drive axleswhich may be positioned underneath successive seats or benches and therewith the wheels connected to said axles. The gear-box in th s case may be fixed upon the axle-frame.

'. The Cardan shafts of which each serves for driving one of the four wheels are mount J ed on either side of the axle of said wheel. In case of a fullspring suspension of the .ther part of my invention is connected with the important advantage, that all unnecessary torques will be positively avoided when transmitting the power from the motor or motors to the wheels. This is due to the fact that the bearing forthe wheels is positioned in the line of the forces exerted by the power transmission mechanism-and that the driving In case of gear is mountedat the outside. a trailer this driving gear may be omitted without necessitating any changes in the con-.

struction In 7 addition, every trailer may in this manner be turned easily and conveniently into a motor-car without making any changes in the construction, At the same time, how ever, it will be possible, merely by minor changes in theconstruction, to use myrnew low floor car or vehicle as a street-vehicle without rails, for instance as or street-car withoutrails.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown and in the above specification described a trolley-bus in detail a preferred form of street-vehicle or 3 street-car constructed according to the principles of my-invention. It is to be under- T stood, however, that thespecific disclosure is for the purpose of exemplifioation only and that the scope of my present invention is defined in the'following claims in which I have endeavored to distinguish it from the prior art sofar as known to me, without, however,

relinquishing or abandoning any part or fea ture thereof; i .I

drawings ,it will be seen that the four motors with floor positioned approximately at the height of one step above the surface of the street throughout the car-body.

2. In a street-vehicle or street-car, the combination of a car-body having a low floor disposed in a single plane throughout the length and width of the car, with a plurality of benches on said floor, a wheel mounted under neath one of said benches with its center of rotation above the floor line, an electric motor mounted underneath another of said benches,

and power transmission mechanism interposed between said motor and said wheel.

3. In a street-vehicle or street-car, the combination of a car-body having a low floor,

with a plurality of transverse benches on said floor, a pair of wheels of normal or essentially normal size mounted underneath one of said benches, an electric motor with an horizontal axle, said motor being mounted within the free space intermediate the bottom or floor of said car-body and another of said benches, and power transmission mechanism interposed between said motor and said pair of wheels.

4. In a street-vehicle or street-car, the combination of a car-body having a floor positioned relatively low with respect to the surface of the street, with a plurality of benches on said floor, an electric, motor mounted in the free space intermediate said floor and one of said benches, a pair of ground or rail engaging wheels of normal or essentially normal size mounted on fixed axles under neat-h another of said benches and with their centers above the floor line, and power transmission mechanism interposed between said motor and said pair of wheels.

5. In a street-vehicle or street-car, the combination of a car-body having a low floor, with a plurality of transverse benches on said floor, a pair of wheels of normal or essentially normal size mounted underneath one of said benches, an electric motor with an horizontal axle, said motor being mounted within the free space intermediate the bottom or floor of said car-body and another of said benches, and power transmission mechanism interposed between said motor and said pair of wheels, said power transmission mechanism including a differential gear, a hollow shaft carrying one or more members of said differential gear, a second shaft enclosed by said hollow shaft, said second shaft carrying other members of said difl'erential gear.

6. In a street-vehicle or street-car, the combination of a car-body having a floor positioned relatively low with respectto the surface of the street, with a plurality of benches on said floor, an electric motor mounted in;

the free space intermediate said floor and one of said benches, a pair of wheels of normal or essentlally normal s1ze mounted on a cranked axle underneath another of said benches, and power transmission mechanism" interposed between said motor and said pair of wheels. 7

7. In a street-vehicle or street-car, the combination .of a car-body having a floor positioned relatively low along its length and breadth with respect to the surface of the street, with a plurality of benches on said floor, an electric motor mounted in the free space intermediate said floor and one of said benches, a pairof wheels of normal or essentially normal sizemounted onto the ends of an axle underneath another of said benches, and power transmission means interposed between said motor and said pair of wheels for driving the same.

8. In a street-vehicle or street-car, the combination of a car-body having a floor positioned relatively low with respect to the surface of the street, with a plurality of benches on said floor, an electric motor mounted in the free space intermediate said floor and one of said benches, a cranked axle mounted on said car-body below said floor, a wheel mounted on either crank of said axle, the cranks of said axle being positioned sentially normal size mounted on cranked axles underneath one of said benches, an electric motor mounted in the free space intermediate the bottom of said car-body and one of said transverse benches, and a double transmission gear interposed between said motor 011 the one hand and each of said wheels on the other hand.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature. r

LOUIS-EUGENE-WIDOLT MONTROSE-OSTER. 

